The Emergence and Future of Public Health Data Science

Public Health Rev. 2021 Apr 26:42:1604023. doi: 10.3389/phrs.2021.1604023. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Data science is a newly-formed and, as yet, loosely-defined discipline that has nonetheless emerged as a critical component of successful scientific research. We seek to provide an understanding of the term "data science," particularly as it relates to public health; to identify ways that data science methods can strengthen public health research; to propose ways to strengthen education for public health data science; and to discuss issues in data science that may benefit from a public health perspective.

Keywords: big data; computational methods; ethics; interdisciplinary science; machine learning; reproducibility.